West Ham United head coach Rita Guarino has confirmed that new loan signing Katie Zelem will be part of the squad for this weekend’s match against Tottenham Hotspur.
England international Zelem joined the Hammers on loan from London City Lionesses last week – and on Friday, Guarino said: “She’s available and I’m happy for that.”
Zelem is a player Guarino knows well, having worked with her at Juventus.
And the coach explained why she wanted to add the 30-year-old to her West Ham squad: “It’s very important to keep these kind of players, more experienced, and so it’s what we need.”
She added: “We need a large numbers of players that can compete during the training to keep the position in the starting 11, so it’s important to have more quality players that can compete for the shirt.”
Rita Guarino: Every game is important for West Ham
West Ham grabbed another three points last weekend as they clung on to a 2-1 win over Leicester City. It was additionally important as bottom club Liverpool got their first victory of the season – but it also means the Hammers are now equal on points with Everton, just one place above them.
And they also have an identical record to their next opponents Tottenham over the last six league matches – two wins, two draws and two losses.
However, Tottenham have had an extremely good season right from the off, and sit in fifth place. Guarino knows they will be tough to take points from.
“I always say that every game is important,” she said. “Now we need to follow the energy that we keep with this victory [against Leicester City] and try to do our best in the next games because every point is important in the league to be safe.
“So it’s a tough game [against Tottenham], but we need to try to do our best.”
